Family Ties
by Writer With Sprite
Summary: There's a reason why Colby's father doesn't visit the office very often. When he finally does visit, the rest of the team gets a small taste of Colby's childhood life. AU. Hinted Colby/Nikki.


There's a reason why Colby's father doesn't visit the office very often. When he finally does visit, the rest of the team gets a small taste of Colby's childhood life. (AU). Hinted Colby/Nikki.

A/N: I realize that in the show Colby's father died after he was fifteen, so in my book, this is the guy who remarried his mother. I'm sure you'll all find him charming. This also has no relation to my book, The Tight Lies That Bind (although if you want to check it out, feel free!)

Disclaimer: I own them not. Thanks to Derry for one of the lines that inspired me.

## Break ##

"That's Colby's father that's in the interrogation room right now, right?" Nikki asked David with raised eyes as she looked nervously into the one-way glass. "Where's Colby?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," David explained impatiently. He nodded towards the glass. "Colby called me last night and let me know he couldn't make visiting with me because his father was coming to town. This morning, he doesn't show up for work. Put two and two together…"

"We're questioning him because Colby's late for work?" Nikki asked with raised eyebrows. Colby's work attendance was stellar, but he was known to be late before. Sometimes, very late.

David jerked his thumb at the glass again. "That, and this guy walks into the building and says there have been threats towards Colby we need to address."

"What are we waiting for?" Nikki asked, eager now that she knew what was going on. Colby annoyed the crap out of her, sure, but it was more in a friendly, brother-sister sort of way. And although she would never _dare _admit it out loud… She did occasionally fantasize about dating the agent.

"Giving him time to blow off. He already sent Don out of here – I've never seen Don get so frustrated with a suspect. Then again, most of our suspects haven't spent time cussing Don out for not watching out for his son, either."

"I thought you just said he wasn't a suspect," Nikki responded.

"He wasn't until he admitted to sending a few of the anonymous threats as a 'test.'" David picked up his cell phone. "Sinclair."

_"Hey, David. I'm at Colby's apartment now – the techs are on their way. There's blood everywhere." _

Nikki frowned at the cell phone. She could hear the words "blood" and "Colby" but not more than that. She wanted answers.

"What do you want us to do?" David asked.

"Question him. I think he knows more than he's letting on." With that, the cell phone disconnected and David stared back at Nikki.

"You ready?"

Nikki nodded and entered the room.

"So you're the agent that my son was talking about. Nikki something, right? You replaced Reeves as the female on the team."

Nikki glanced at David sub-consciously. She talked about her team with her family; why couldn't Colby talk about his team with his? For some reason, though, she doubted that the man had gotten that information out of Colby willingly. She stared at him. "We found blood at Colby's apartment. And fingerprints. We're going to be sending them down to trace now. Do you think you'll find yours there?" she asked, coolly. It was her turn to try playing "bad guy."

"Of course you will," the man responded. "I was there yesterday." He smirked back at her. "You know what Colby said? Well, he didn't say it… but it's obvious he'd protect you. I think he cares about you like a sister."

It took all of Nikki's reserve not to flinch. She knew Colby cared about her and would defend her to the death – and had, actually, defended her many times before. _Unless_, she thought, smirking on the inside, _there was a girl involved_. She still remembered Colby's "I don't punch girls" line. Her resolve to find him doubled. "When was the last time you talked to him?" she asked.

"Last night. I was in town and he invited me to his apartment," the man responded. He sat back in his chair. "Really, I'm unsure as to why you're questioning me when you could be doing something useful – like finding my son."

This time it was David's turn to speak up. "When was the last time prior to last night that you saw him or spoke with him?"

Mr. Granger shifted in his chair. It was clear that David's question had hit home. "We don't speak often," he said finally.

"The last time, Mr. Granger." It felt weird to call the man sitting across from her 'Mr. Granger.' Nikki had never bothered with the titles with Colby – the first time she'd tried, he'd said, "No, it's Colby – keep the conversation friendly."

Damn. Now she was obsessing.

"About three months ago."

"And when you came here, Colby invited you to his apartment?"

"I'm sure even you don't talk to your family every day," Mr. Granger responded. He didn't even flinch under Nikki's glare.

_There's something to be said for "Every day"_ and three months, Nikki thought, hissing in frustration. "Was there any altercation last night between you and Colby?" she questioned.

Mr. Granger smiled. "I'm sorry, you'll have to define the meeting of 'altercation' for me. My English isn't that good." He smiled. "I'm sure yours isn't all that good either."

Nikki lost it. She was up against him, her hands inches away from his neck. She wanted to strangle the living daylight out of him. "Altercation, Mr. Granger, is a _noisy quarrel_. Something that would have alerted the neighbors to your presence. Did you throw a punch at your son? Beat him like you did when he was a teenager?"

She didn't miss David's raised eyebrows and she made a motion for "I'll explain later" as she listened carefully for his answer.

"I may have thrown a fist at him, but that was it. Really, agents, you're wasting my time and yours. I'd like a lawyer, please." With that, he leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.

"What was all that about in the witness room?" David asked Nikki with a raised eyebrow. "I thought I was two seconds away from seeing you strangle someone!"

"He's lying through his teeth!" Nikki hissed, furious. "Can't you see that? He knows where Colby is. And he really did beat Colby when he was two."

David just shook his head. "I'm not even going to ask how you know that. No – don't say anything, Nikki, and whatever you do, don't go back in there. I'll place the call to a DA for a lawyer and we'll go from there."

Nikki frowned. "I think we should search the apartment complex and the nearby areas. He really got tense when I said the word altercation."

"Don's team is there now. If they find something, they'll let us know." David exhaled slowly. "I'm going to call Megan. Maybe she can profile this guy."

"Uh, David?" Nikki asked. Although she felt like she and Colby were a team, it was different with David. Because Don had assigned David as her handler, it felt more like she was his boss. "Megan…"

"Quit, I know. But she didn't lose her clearance, and as far as I know, she never stopped caring about her team members. She's in LA this week, I want to see if I can get her take." The dial tone on David's cell phone ended their discussion.

The worried feeling in Nikki's gut grew as she thought about the last time she'd seen Colby in trouble. He was under a rather large woman and a pile of boxes – and asking for a hand up because he wouldn't hit a girl. Nikki rolled her eyes. _Girl must mean something different in Idaho, indeed._

## Break ##

Nikki stretched as she got out of the car. Megan had just left LA and headed back for her home, but as soon as she'd heard that Colby was missing and foul play was involved, she'd stopped and gotten another flight back to the LA area. With "nothing better for her to do," David had ordered Nikki to go pick up Megan.

"Hi, Mrs. Reeves, good to meet you," Nikki responded, shaking the former agent's hands.

Megan smiled a cashmere grin. "Please, Nikki, call me Megan. 'Mrs. Reeves' reminds me of my mother." The unbidden _and that's something I'd like to forget_ stood loud and clear.

"I understand." She blinked as she opened Megan's car door for her, thinking, _and that's exactly the same thing Colby said about his father_.

"So what are the circumstances of the case?" Megan asked quietly.

"We don't know a lot yet. We know there was a lot of blood at Colby's apartment, not all of which was his. Thankfully, Trace moved this one up to first and we were able to get a quick result, otherwise I think David and Don would have gone crazy. Colby's blood is on the door and his fathers' blood is right above his on the doorprint."

"He's looking more and more like a suspect," Megan murmured. "Has he said anything, yet?"

"No, not yet," Nikki said in frustration. "He kicked Don out of the room because he said he didn't care enough about his team. He kicked David out of the room the first time because he said David 'betrayed' Colby when Colby was arrested. He kicked me out by asking for a lawyer, and again by telling me I was a female."

"And David thinks he'll talk to me because…?" Megan asked, searching for instructions on Nikki's face.

"He thinks he'll listen to you, and he wants your insight."

Megan smirked. "It's been awhile since someone has wanted my insight. This will be a nice change of pace."

## Break ##

They made it to the office in record time. Nikki glanced at the time on her cell phone. It had been eight hours since Colby hadn't shown up for work that morning and fifteen hours since she'd last seen him. She winced as she pulled her hair up again. "Any news, Boss?"

"Nothing." Don shook his head in frustration as he ran his hand through his hair and nodded at Megan. "We're hoping you can take a crack at him."

"I'm not an official FBI agent anymore, Don."

Don shrugged. "Who says I can't forget for a few minutes?" With that, he and Megan were gone, walking towards where they were. Nikki pulled herself back to reality and moved forward towards the office.

"Megan Reeves, Megan Reeves," Mr. Granger said. His lawyer was with him now. Nikki scrunched up her nose. She hated lawyers.

"Good to see you again, Mr. Granger. I just wish it were under better circumstances."

David and Nikki shared a look. Even though Nikki was no profiler, she knew that Megan was lying to Colby's father's face. "What are your thoughts?" she quietly asked David.

"He knows where Colby is," David responded, his voice tight with resolution. He glanced at Nikki. "No ransom demands, no phone calls, no nothing."

"That's not good," Nikki muttered as she pushed down her tag in the back of her shirt. She picked up her phone. "Nikki."

"_Nikki, it's Colby_-," Colby started to say, but the phone was cut off.

"I guess that just changed the statement about no phone calls," David muttered as he stood up. Nikki ran after him, praying that they'd get a lead on the phone call. He glanced back at Nikki. "Why do you think he called you?"

Nikki shook her head. "I don't know, David. He didn't exactly stay on the phone long enough for me to find out." She, too, wondered. The team policy was generally to call David or Don when they were in trouble – the leaders of the team. She just shook her head as she made her way through the Violent Crimes Squad.

## Break ##

It was four hours later and they'd finally gotten a break. Even though they hadn't gotten a trace on the number, they'd managed to look it up. It had come from Colby's apartment complex – the apartment complex right next door to Colby's.

Nikki fingered her vest as she made sure her gun was steady. "Ready?" she whispered to David.

"I'm ready." He spoke quietly into his vest. "Team Bravo is ready."

Another pause. "Team Charlie is ready."

Nikki shook her head. Apparently Don was still "forgetting" that Megan had officially resigned as an FBI agent, because she was accompanying them on the raid.

She'd hated herself for earlier. She'd let weakness show. Don had been questioning Colby's father after they'd found out he was in the process of being investigated for the murder of two people.

_"I haven't killed anything human_!" the man had protested.

"_And what's your definition of human?" _ Don had shot back. _"Arabs? Jews? Hispanics? Anyone of another race? Another skin color?"_

That had gotten Colby's father riled. He'd launched towards Don, his arms wrapping firmly around Don's neck. "FBI agents like you and Colby Granger," he'd yelled out.

Nikki watched David motion towards the door. Don kicked it in and opened it. "Colby?" he questioned, as he walked towards the room. "Clear in here!" he called out. Nikki saw Megan and David part to the other side of the room and she advanced alone to the center, out to the patio where she saw a figure.

_Oh, God, _she thought, her breath catching in her throat. _Colby –_ she opened the patio door and raced towards the FBI Agent. "Don! David! Megan! Agent down!" She said, feeling for Colby's pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief, it was still strong. The rain was just beginning to lighten up and Colby's body was completely soaked.

"Damn," Megan muttered as she knelt down next to Colby. Don was already dialing for LAPD and an ambulance.

"What's his condition?" Don asked, trying to be heard over the sudden roar of the rain.

"Pulse is steady, boss." The rain was coming down hard and in sheets. "Should we move him?" she asked. She could barely hear herself over the sudden downpour.

"Are you nuts? He could have a broken neck! Go get some blankets," Don said, waving her off.

Nikki swore under her breath. She doubted Colby had a broken neck but didn't want to question her boss. She raced off towards the bedroom, stripping the queen bed of the blankets. She muttered a "sorry" to whoever lived in the apartment and raced out into the field.

"How is he?"

"He'll live. How long are those medics, Don?" David asked as he wrapped the blanket around Colby's face.

"Five minutes is ETA," Don replied. Thunder crashed roughly in the distance. "You keep watch here. I'm going to go lead the ambulance EMTS to the apartment," he yelled back as he made his way through the door.

"Is there anything we can do?" Nikki asked. She felt helpless.

"Try and wake him up. Colby, can you hear me?" David demanded as he roughly slapped Colby's cheek. "Colby, dammit, wake up! Colby, wake up!"

## Break ##

The steady and slow beeping of the hospital monitor made Nikki feel reassured, even though she didn't know why. The senior agents were all wrapping up the case and doing the paperwork that was involved. Don had left her here to watch over Colby, even though both he and David had wanted too. Don's only explanation was that Colby's father still had to be proven and they were going to do it.

Someone else had been helping Colby's father. He'd started fleeing from their apartment after he'd seen their cars; Don had tackled him down the staircase after recognizing him. The man had finally confessed to "helping someone" kidnap Colby Granger.

_If you're going to kidnap someone, don't move him over just one apartment,_ Nikki thought with a grimace. It was probably his father's stupidity that had saved Colby's life.

Colby blinked his eyes open and she rushed towards his side. "Colby?" she questioned.

"Hey, Nikki," Colby responded with a yawn. "What time is it?"

"That should be 'what day is it'," she questioned. "Do you always cause this much trouble?"

Colby shrugged – or tried to. "Do you?" He paused. "I guess you got my phone call."

"Yeah. Not that I'm complaining, but why didn't you call David?"

"I couldn't remember if one of the digits in his phone number was a nine or a six, but I remembered yours. I'm just glad." Colby smiled. "Welcome to the team… Sis."

"Sis?" she asked, her eyebrows raising. "Is there something going on that I don't know about?"

"Maybe," Colby Granger said, a smile on his face. "Maybe."


End file.
